Russia’s Maxim Sivolap and Artem Yartzutkin stunned top seeds Jyrki Nurminen and Santeri Siren of Finland en route to the semi-finals of the International Volleyball Federation Beach World Tour event in Siem Reap in Cambodia.
Sivolap and Yartzutkin fought back to beat the Finns 15-21, 23-21, 17-15 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the two-star event.
The Russian pair also needed three sets to get past Denmark’s Kristoffer Abell and Martin Trans Hansen in the last eight as they earned a 14-21, 21-17, 15-12 triumph.
Sivolap and Yartzutkin will go up against Florian Schnetzer and Peter Eglseer of Austria in the last four.
The Austrian duo overcame second seeds Nuttanon Inkiew and Adison Khaolumtarn of Thailand 21-18, 21-17 to progress to the semi-finals.
Cristophe Dressler and Alexander Huber joined their Austrian team-mates in the last four by defeating Czech Republic’s Jan Dumek and Vaclav Bercik 21-16, 22-20.
They will take on Switzerland’s Quentin Metral and Yves Haussener, who completed the all-European semi-final line-up with a 21-18, 21-13 victory against Canada’s Sergiy Grabovskyy and Cameron Wheelan.
The tournament concludes with semi-finals and medal matches tomorrow.
